Saul Bridgeman
Human male, born LY 847, in Monab. Vice-bishop, and Colonel of the Monab regiment of the Army. Saul comes from a thoroughly religious family, which has produced countless spirit-talkers over countless generations (possibly even going back earlier than the founding of The Order and Monab, in 404). Saul himself has been a spirit-talker since he was nine years old, and all he ever wanted in life was to be a preacher in the church his family attended. He attained that goal at age 20, in 867. Fifteen years later, in 882, he became his district's vice-bishop. Saul has long been known as a very stoic person, who takes his vocation very seriously. He also has a very strong sense of community, and cares deeply about all his parishioners, who are of course his friends and neighbors. Because of his great love for his own community, he has never had any ambition to rise higher than vice-bishop, as he didn't want to divide his attention among other districts of Monab. In 890, he was among the earliest recruits of Bishop Kizin to help in the refinement of The Plan, which would eventually lead to the Coming of the Order. When the Plan's implementation finally began in 897, one of the first aspects was making Monab's religious community self-sufficient. It also involved raising a small army, to defend the village in case it ever became necessary, after the expected dissent against the Plan began, though the Monab army was never intended to be a part of the armies that the Order later, in 901, began forming in the Northern Alliance. However, Saul has always taken his potential military duties seriously, in spite of never quite thinking of himself as a soldier. Human life is precious to him, so taking any life would have hurt him deeply... but it is something he was totally prepared to do, should it ever become necessary. Luckily, it never did; when the Protestant Movement started in 902, it declared that no battles would be fought in Monab. And they remained true to that promise throughout the war of 903. After the war, the Monab army was declared a regiment of the Army, and Saul was given the rank of colonel. But both during and since the war, he has never ceased in his duties as vice-bishop. When the surname law was passed in 904, Saul considered taking the name 'Spiritbridge,' as he considered spirit-talkers to be a metaphorical bridge between spirits and humans. However, one of his spirit friends commented that it sounded "too new age-y and mystical"; what exactly the spirit meant by that has never been explained by Saul, though apparently the spirit explained it to his satisfaction. So, he chose instead 'Bridgeman.' (This has led some to think his family may have included some actual bridge builders, but that is not the case.) During the Chaos War of 912, Saul felt it would be best to maintain his regiment's original purpose as a defensive army, and so once again, it never took part in any battle. Category:People